


Those Times We Weren't Saving The World

by The_Elephant_in_the_Pride_Parade



Series: Sailor Moon T: The TEitPPverse [3]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Gen, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-04-02 02:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4042855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Elephant_in_the_Pride_Parade/pseuds/The_Elephant_in_the_Pride_Parade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Here, have some fluffy/funny one shots!</p><p>I thought these would be fun while I finish Pax Lunae and write the companion/sequel story to that and Third First Breaths. Will add more as I fancy.</p><p>CH 1-4 EDITED 11/14/15</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mario Kart

**Author's Note:**

> Don't own sailor moon. But I love it and I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoy writing them.

Mario Kart

The sailors do love to congregate at Hikawa Shrine, and the Penthouse, and recently at Makoto’s pastry shop (no surprises there). But ever since Ikuko and Kenji have been in on the secret, the Tsukino household has become a particular favorite.

Because Usagi, Chibiusa, and Shingo have the best collection of video games...

“Not such a star in virtual reality, huh Tenoh?”

“I’m gonna whup your ass Aino, just you wait,” Haruka growls, steering her cart up a ramp to grab a power pack. She presses her thumb down hard on the ‘B’ button and jets shoot out the bottom of her avatar’s cart. Wario flies past Princess Peach, and Minako curses as he does.

“Oh no, now she’s gaining on me!” Usagi whines, frantically clicking buttons on the controller. Her Bowzer Avatar swerves to cut Haruka off, knocking her cart against the side of the track. “YES!”

“You’ve still got me to deal with,” Shingo says as his car pulls past Minako and inches up on Usagi.

“Ohhhh. Shitshitshitshit.”

 _“Language!”_ Ikuko shrieks from the other room. Usagi groans.

“Aw hell yeah, am I really beating Sailor Scouts?" Shingo marvels as he zips around a curve in the course, Haruka and Minako hot on his heels. "I am! Ha! I can’t wait to tell Kara.”

“Got a crush on my sister now, Shingo?” Minako fires at the 13-year-old as she gets her cart back in front of a disgruntled Haruka.

“If I could just get Suna to program a _World Shaking_ into this you wouldn’t be so cocky,” Haruka mutters as she tries to steer her cart back on course.

“About that...” Ami pipes up.

<MERCURY ICE BUBBLES FREEZE> scrawls across the bottom of the screen.

“ _WHAT_?!” chorus the four other players.

From the center of the track, a stream of bubbles races towards the leading cars, freezing Haruka and Minako in their tracks.

“FuckingshitMizuno!”

“Amiwhyyyyy”

_“Language!”_

“Butbubutbutbutbut – that’s not allowed!” Shingo says as the ice on his tires sends his cart careening off a cliff.

“Noooo… you’re supposed to let me win!” Usagi cries. Her cart skids on an ice sheet of popped bubbles and into a wall, with a force that makes the avatar glitch.

Ami’s cart zooms past all four of them.

“I may have made a few upgrades.”

“Wait: is that Vanellope from _Wreck-It_!” Minako stares.

Ami shrugs. “That took some extra time but, yeah.”

“How?”

“Well,” Ami says as she smirks at them, “I was quite tired of being Luigi all the time.”


	2. The Contact List

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minako has a new phone. And everyone's curious what their ringtone is...

**efThe Contact List**

Rei's first impression of Minako's new phone is that it is obnoxious - first of all, it is an iPhone. Second of all, the Venus symbol is bedazzled on the back in orange sequins. "Could you be more obvious about it?" she once complains to Mina.

"Puh-lease," Minako scoffs. "I don't know if you noticed, by we are the height of pop-culture. Everyone wants to dress like us." She winks at Rei. "I could go to school as Venus, and they'd just reprimand me for being out of dress code."

"I still can't believe you bedazzled your phone."

"Hey, hey - no mocking the smartphone," she says, putting a finger to Rei's lips and silencing her since the touch leaves her too flustered to talk. "After all, it needs to live up to my fabulousness."

~ _ttwwstw~_

Rei's second impression only cements her opinion. They're in the middle of a study session - and they only just got Usagi to freaking focus on her math work, when a loud melody makes them all jump. Rei's got her senshi wand in hand before she realizes it's a song.

_"dakara motto motto motto haruka kanata_

_fumikomu ze akuseru kakehiki wa nai sa sou dayo"_

"Sorry!" Minako says, scrambling to get her phone out of her bag. "It's Haruka - Hello. Yes, yeah. Yeah. I'll be there. On time. Okay." She hangs up. "Sorry... she's teaching me to drive and wanted to tell me when to meet."

"What was that ringtone?" Makoto asks. "The tune's familiar…"

"' _Haruka Kanata,_ ' Asian Kung-Fu Generation," Minako says. "It was... fitting."

"You have a personal ringtone for Haruka?" Usagi asks.

"I have one for everyone," Minako admits cheerily. "Everyone gets a song."

And suddenly Makoto and Usagi are reaching for their phones aiming to call Minako's. The Senshi of Love hastily turns her phone off.

"Uh-uh... you're all just going to have to find out what they are - or guess, and I'll tell you."

"Why couldn't you just put it on vibrate like a normal person?" Rei snipes.

"Oh come on, Rei." Minako grins as she reaches over to push her lightly on the arm. "Ringtones are fun! And people love figuring out what they are. In faaaact," she declares: "the first person to figure out which song everyone has - I mean the sailors, of course - that person gets a prize!"

"Prize!" Usagi grins, clapping her hands. "What prize?"

"If you guess them all - whatever you want!" 

Rei rolled her eyes, knowing Usagi's pension for expensive presents, Minako would surely live to regret that.

~ _ttwwstw_ ~

She isn't even planning to compete... until Makoto comes to the shrine to talk about it.

"Rei... you're good at English right?"

"Sort of," she shrugs. Sure, she has the highest marks in her class, but that doesn't mean she's good in practice. "Why?"

"Because that's what Setsuna's song is in," Makoto complains, lounging on the temple steps. "She called Minako today about whether she could watch Hotaru and Chibiusa... and the song was English. I was so gonna guess it otherwise - Here," she says, reaching into her pocket for her own phone. "I got Mina to play it again so I could record it - If you help me, and I win, we can split the prize."

"I wasn't even playing," she complains to Makoto. But she accepts the phone anyway and plays the recording.

_"I've been looking through my window_

_At somebody else's world_

_And you let me fall_

_Right through your open door_

_You came and saved me you saved me from myself"_

It takes her a few listens to understand the words, and when she does it's a little unsettling... why is this Setsuna's?

"I have to look it up later," Rei says to Makoto.

The song bugs her for the rest of the day. Since the temple does not have a router installed, she goes to a nearby Internet cafe to look up the lyrics.

She calls Minako as soon as her search results are up.

"Skunk Anansie's 'You Saved Me,'" she says without preamble.

"Oh, so Mako-chan came to you about Setsuna's?" Mina chuckles on the other end. "Isn't it a beautiful song?"

It is. "It's sad," she tells Mina. "Why would you pick that one for Setsuna?"

"I won't call it sad per say… okay, so it's a bit melancholy. I don't pick them cause they're happy songs Rei-chan. I just pick them cause they fit."

"And it's also kind of…" she scans the lyrics on the PC screen again. "Romantic."

"Well duh." Mina chuckles. "Have you seen her around Haruka and Michiru lately? She could give Makoto's lovesick glances a jog for their cash."

"Run for their money," she corrects Mina gently, smiling.

"Oh, you know what I meant..."

~ _ttwwstw_ ~

The next one she hears is Michiru's and entirely through her own manipulation. She's with Mina Friday afternoon when Mina mentions she and Mako are ahead of everyone by a song. It stokes her pride and sparks her irritation too: because she hate's being  _tied_. And then Rei is texting Michiru to please do her a favor and call Mina. She's hit "send" before she even realizes she's become invested in Mina's ridiculous challenge. 

Swiftly, there's a reply.

**Kaioh M: all right, speaking of, you're watching Hotaru next weekend... I have plans. ;)**

A second later Minako's phone is blowing up, not with lyrics, but with violin music. The tune is familiar, Rei realizes: from back when her mother was alive and listened to this music whenever her father brought the cassettes or CD's back from trips.

"I swear that's Freddie Mercury… as a violin cover," she tells Mina.

"Yes…" Minako nods to her as she listens to Michiru talk. "Wait - what... uh." she holds the phone away from her as Michiru hangs up. "Apparently I'm babysitting Hotaru with you." Minako sighs. "Whatever, do you know the Freddie Mercury song?" she asks Rei.

"It's..." she checks her phone... a new text from Michiru. "' _I Was Born to Love You,_ '" Rei says, blushing.

**Kaioh M: You're welcome ;)**

~ _ttwwstw_ ~

Minako has no choice but to reveal Ami's - she loses her phone while they're out shopping one day and Ami's the first one to call it.

_"Sairen ga hibiite_

_toozakatte kieta_

_tekagami ni utsutta"_

"SNoW!" Usagi shouts at the same time as Rei and Makoto say "' _Bleach_!'"

"That was an easy one," Minako huffs as she digs her phone out from under the Ice Cream Bar. "Makoto and Rei get it."

"That's an... interesting choice for me," Ami says.

"I guess my reasons are entirely my own," Minako winks.

~ _ttwwstw_ ~

Afterwards, Mina's very careful when they're all together to leave her phone on silent. "It would be way to easy otherwise." But she does leave the ringtones enabled during school lunch hours. Rei's just catching up with Mina and Usagi for lunch one day when a new ringtone bursts to life.

_"Some people talk about you_

_Like they know all about you_

_When you get down they doubt you_

_And when you tipping on the scene_

_Yeah they talkin' about it"_

"Hey, Mako-chan... uh huh. uh huh. Actually, you gave it away to Rei and Usagi… haha. Oh my god tickets to - yes, YES! Sign me up!" Mina giggles as she pulls the phone away from her ear and stuffs it in her pocket. "Three words: Music. Festival. Tickets." She grins. "And we're all going - I love the school raffles."

Rei laughs quietly, then hums the tune of the ringtone so she's sure she'll remember it later.

"Why do you have so many English songs?" Usagi asks.

Minako ponders, twirling her hair as they walk. "Dunno… It's half and half, actually. I have a couple favorites from my time in England. Setsuna's was new when I lived in London - loved it... and this one is from a girl I found online - on one of those "recommended artists' lists. And!" Minako declares clapping her hands together "All her music is amazinggg!"

Usagi beats Rei to the Internet Cafe on their way home after school, but she gets the song first, smirking as Usagi spells the English lyrics wrong for the fifth time.

She texts Minako:

**Hino R: Janelle Monae, "Tightrope"**

**Aino M: Damnit. I thought that 1 wud b hard!**

**Hino R: Not with the internet... why did you pick that one?**

**Aino M: U got wat its about. Right?**

**Hino R: Um…**

**Hino R: not caring what anyone else thinks.**

**Hino R: Which is just like Makoto.**

**Aino M: Exactly. lol.**

**Aino M: Sometimes i pick them cuz i like the songs. But sometimes i chose the 1s that... reflect traits i see in people... or how i feel abt them.**

**Hino R: And what about me?**

**Aino M: Ha! Nice try ;) you'll have 2 hear ur ringtone 2 find out.**

~ _ttwwstw_ ~

Rei keeps the list of them in her pocket after that, just to see if there's any kind of pattern. She pulls it out frequently in class, thinking about Mina and trying to riddle out her mad musical choices.

_Haruka - ASIAN KUNG-FU GEN. "Haruka Kanata"_

_Setsuna - SKUNK ANANSIE "You Saved Me"_

_Michiru - FREDDIE MERCURY "I Was Born To Love You" violin cover_

_Ami - SNoW "Bleach"_

_Makoto - JANELLE MONAE "Tightrope"_

_Chibiusa - ?_

_Hotaru - ?_

_Usagi - …. (maybe) Mina's "Route Venus"_

_Me - ?_

There is no pattern to discern, but she's stuck on why none of these are any of Mina's own songs, because Rei knows Mina, and Mina's far too full of herself not to assign her own songs to important people. She's  _sure_  Usagi's has to be Mina's own hit single " _Route Venus._ " After all, Minako had written it to express her choice of her senshi duty over love. And Usagi  _was_  her duty. Plus: it was so upbeat, perfect for the Bun-head. Rei grows more sure whenever she looks at the list that she'll at least know that one without having to hear it.

She's got the list in her hand and is pondering any kind of pattern when Usagi pops her head into the shrine.

"I found out Chibiusaaaaa's!" she squeals. "Tell me mine - I know you know! I'll trade you."

"You first," she challenges Usagi. "So I can check if it's right."

"Fiiiine." Usagi sighs. "Momoiro's " _Mirai he Susume_."

"Mina's ' _Route Venus_ ' song," Rei mumbles, whipping out her phone at the same time Usagi does so that she can check with Mina.

**Aino M: Mirai he Susume is right - & stop tricking Usagi XD**

"Hey," Usagi pouts. "She says you're wrong."

Rei frowns. "I... I mean I guessed, but..."

" _Guessed!_ " Usagi cries. "But I want the pwiiiiize."

Rei placates her by offering her tea and cookies, even though her mind is elsewhere.  _Why wouldn't Mina assign "Route Venus" to Usagi?_

_~ttwwstw~_

The night they babysit Hotaru is also the night Hotaru calls ahead to ask if she can please bring over her new favorite movie. They're cooking dinner in Mina's kitchen when she calls.

_"Barami jangnaneul chil ttaemyeon nareul kkok butjabajwoya hae tto naraga beorilla_

_Geureoke gugimyeon keunil na nan mareopgo chakhae boyeodo jajonsimi senikka"_

"That's K-Pop!" Rei laughs as Minako talks to Hotaru. "You _hate_ K-Pop."

"I know," Minako sighs as she hangs up the phone. "But it's Hotaru's favorite band. I tried to give her J-pop. I swear. but the songs. just. wouldn't. fit."

"And it's " _Paper Heart"_ by f(x)."

"Damnit!" Minako curses. "You've gotten nearly all of them now haven't you."

"Well not Usagi's... and not mine." Rei smirks at Mina. "Speaking of... did you give anyone songs that you wrote?"

"Uh…" Mina hesitates, eyes trained intently on the sauce she's stirring. "Only one in the entire phone, I think."

"Is it... one of ours?"

"Mayyyyybe." Mina smirks back at Rei. "Not. Telling."

~ _ttwwstw_ ~

Rei's still sure " _Route Venus_ " is Usagi's. Maybe Minako had only lied to Usagi while Rei was there to throw her off the trail. There's no way her biggest hit isn't someone important.

But one afternoon, shortly after Mina arrives for study time, her phone rings, and Rei's head jerks up at the lyrics coming from the speakers.

_"Moon Pride!_

_Anata no chikara ni naritai"_

"Uhuuuuh," Minako says as she answers. Her eyes flit nervously over to Rei, who's staring up at her intently. "Yes... yes, I have a copy. Yeah. Haha. No problem."

Mina hangs up the phone, trying to pass it off as nothing "Just... someone asking if I have a copy of the homework."

"It was Usagi asking," Rei says cooly, "I can't believe I didn't guess it before - the tribute song Momoiro did to us - " _Moon Pride_.'"

"You caught me," Minako sighs, plopping down next to the coffee table. "There it is: you've gotten all of them."

"Not mine,"

"Well…" Minako grins. "I - I think I can amend the rules. You don't need to know yours."

Rei frowns. "Well I still get any prize I want, right?"

"Uhhh..." Minako stammers, looking all around the room as if there's anyone else around to get her out of this. "You... already know what you want?"

"Yes," Rei asserts. "I want to hear mine."

Minako stares at her for a very long minute. The whole shrine is eerily quiet. Then, sighing, Mina slides her phone into the middle of the table.

Rei wastes no time calling it.

_"ono doa akete..."_

She stiffens because that's Mina's voice coming through the speakers. " _'Route Venus_ " is  _mine_?"

_"Nokori jikan ga_

_Suikomareteku_

_Hitomi wo agete"_

But this is... different from the version Rei knows (laughing and bubbly in the face of eternal duty). This version has no upbeat, poppy tune in the background. It's only Minako's voice: rawer and more regretful than she's ever heard in one of her songs.

_"Massugu mitsume_

_Saigo no kisu wo shite_

_Arukidashite ne"_

The ringtone cuts off in the middle of the song. Rei stares across the table at Minako. "Why am I the song about duty over love?" she asks quietly.

Minako clears her throat. "Because... I picked duty," she says meeting Rei's eyes. "And thus, I can't have love. It's a distraction." She swallows hard. "The song... is a reminder."

Her hand goes to her phone to take it off the table.

But Rei reaches out to stop her; she grabs Mina's hand in her own.

"I think… you're forgetting," she whispers to Mina. "We have the same duty... the same fears, goals, responsibilities. It..." she thinks, flustered and trying to hide it. "When two people have the same duty... they aren't distractions to eachother... they can be support."

Minako's hand is too warm in her own, and sweaty... or perhaps that's Rei's own hand. Her heart's pounding a bit too loudly in her ears. Minako's eyes are so blue...

The kettle shrieks in the kitchen, and Rei bolts up to get it, rushing from the room.

Usagi and the others have arrived by the time she returns, separating she and Mina with books, pens, and laptops spread over the table. But occasionally Rei catches Mina's gaze as she looks up and she knows: they won't be sweeping what was said under the rug for long.


	3. Duty Bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After The Contact List, After the Galaxy Cauldron, Minako is still trying to sort out how to balance life and love with duty, but her fellow Senshi is done waiting for her to make up her mind. It's time they talk about things. (Reinako)

**Duty Bound**

Mina had slipped out when the cleaning up had started: Makoto insisting on doing all the dishes, and Rei and Mrs. Tsukino fighting with her over the chore; Usagi and Chibiusa scrambling for the last few scraps left in the serving dishes; Ami, Ms. Mizuno, Mamoru, and Mr. Tsukino laughing all the while; and Shingo, amid all of it, trying his best to talk to Hotaru without blushing and tripping over his words – Setsuna, Mr. Tomoe, Haruka, and Michiru looking on with a range of expressions from wary to amused while they all talked quietly in the corner.

Haruka had caught her eye as she slipped out and nodded at her. She wasn't going to bring it up… or tell Artemis on her. Mina supposed the Senshi of the Wind knew better than most the need to escape every once in a while.

The air outside the shrine was bitter cold; it seemed to freeze in her lungs as Mina breathed it in. But she walked out into the lightly falling snow anyways – hands stuffed into her pockets to ward off the chill.

Her parents weren't here… her first night back, alive, after the fiasco with Galaxia and the Galaxy Cauldron… and her parents and sister weren't here at the celebration. 

 _I mean it wasn't like I invited them_ , Mina thought. _A_ _nd it's not like I want my mother here anyways given how she took things… this morning._ That was really the crux of it, Mina sighed, staring for a long while up at the full moon.  _Of course it's a full moon, how freaking auspicious._ Her parents weren't here because… well…they hadn't taken things as well as the others.

Ikuko Tsukino had made Usagi and Chibiusa pancakes this morning – and that even  _after_ learning Chibiusa was her freaking granddaughter. And Shingo had thought it was all so "cool." Mr. Tsukino had asked question after question after question – never once flinching at the less than amusing details of having a daughter amongst the ranks of the Senshi.

And Mr. Tomoe – who, granted, still seemed to be processing the information – was surprisingly mellow about his daughter being the Senshi of Death. It was only her adoption of the Outer Senshi as parental figures that he seemed to have a problem with.

Ami and Rei hadn't even had to  _tell_ their families for goodness sake. Dr. Mizuno and Mr. Hino had already freaking guessed the reason the girls had disappeared for four months.

 _Makoto doesn't even have to tell anyone since her family's dead._  Mina smacked a hand over her face at the thought.  _She'd more than happily have her parents back regardless of whether they took it well – freak sake, Aino, get a hold of yourself._  She breathed in a deep breath of the chilly December air and closed her eyes, tilting her head up and letting snowflakes fall across her eyelids.

She had five texts from her mother on her phone:

**-Come home & explain. How long have you been keeping this from me?-**

**-I told your father. He is concerned. -**

**-This stops now, right Mina? You're done? Not a word of this to your sister, okay?-**

**-Is this what's been holding back your career, Sweetie? -**

**-I've thought about this all day, Minako. It's okay. We don't have to talk about it. Let's just move on. Back to normal! I've got a new round of auditions for you on Monday! :) -**

_Two years ago I would have jumped on this chance,_ Mina laughed.  _Traded in the transformation wand for a microphone in a second – I did, as a matter of fact… I mean I'd forgotten I was a Sailor, but still... I was more than happy to go along with how it used to be._

_Has being a Sailor really changed me so much?_

She'd been acting since she was old enough to walk and dance across a pageant stage. And sure her mother and father could be quite demanding about her career, but Mina'd never had a problem with it before.

 _Maybe it doesn't help that she boxed up all my stuff and tried to have Kara replace me as the actress in the family_ … Mina reasoned with herself.  _But I don't see why I'm so hung up about auditions._

She couldn't remember much of death… only that the realm within the Galaxy Cauldron had been warm, and bright, and peaceful… And though she had been trapped there, and incorporeal right up until the end, Mina had not been afraid. She had not felt stress, or anger, or worry. She had merely drifted, content.  _When was the last time I felt content? _I can't think of it_. _

Mina laughed. And thought it sounded as cold as the winter breeze blistering against her skin.

Granted… there had been no excitement within the Galaxy Cauldron either, nor happiness… nor joy. Idly, Mina wondered if death was like that normally, or if the dark and violent circumstances of her own had led to that particular realm of stillness.

Waking up (tasting _air_ ) had been such a shock this morning. But more shocking than that had been remembering the feeling of being in the cauldron – the enormity of it – all those lives and hopes and dreams packed in together. Mina could understand how beautiful it was once Chaos corrupting influence had been purged from it. The cauldron had no ending naturally… and its beginning stretched as far back as the universe itself.  _This is the place where stars are born_ , she remembered being told, though by whom, she could not remember.

It was strange to think: the cauldron had long ago created her too – her planet, her soul, and her purpose…

 _And if I'm alive again, I still have a purpose to fulfill._ Mina sighed, staring up into the endless night sky.  _They're all fooling themselves if they think things will become normal. We exist to maintain normalcy… not have it ourselves._

There were things she wanted - goddamnit - from life, that she could not have.  _I guess knowing that makes the whole enterprise of acting seem a little bit tedious,_ Mina reasoned back to her initial frustrations with her mother.  _It's just more pretending… pretending to be normal people, pretending to be normal old Aino Minako…_

And her mother was well and good when everything was normal, but (Mina swallowed the lump in her throat) normal wasn't something she had patience for anymore.

 _She wants me to be done_ , Mina thought, clasping both reddened, numb hands together under her chin.  _But how do I tell her…all of them really…that I never will be. Truly, I never want to be. It wouldn't feel right leaving the fighting to someone else when all my friends are still in the thick of it._

 _It's my duty._  Minako hung her head.  _I've accepted that; I find meaning in that. Can I still be frustrated by all the things it means I cannot have?_

_Does that mean I have to choose between my mother and my duty? Forsake family like I forsook love?_

A light crunch on the snowy temple steps broke through Mina's thoughts. "Go away Artemis," she called out. "I'm fine."

"Clearly you're not," said a voice that was decidedly  _not_ her cat's. Mina whipped around. Rei was making her way down the temple steps, a thick coat over her robes. She was carrying something: a blanket and two steaming mugs.

"What are you trying to do - freeze?" Rei chastised, walking nimbly across the snow and kneeling next to Minako. "Here. Take that."

Minako wrapped numb fingers around the steaming mug Rei had thrust at her and looked away as the Senshi of Fire settled the blanket around Mina's shoulders before taking a seat on the steps beside her and bumping her shoulder. "What's up – and don't say nothing?"

Minako sighed. "I've been thinking… Did you ever wonder if there'd come a day... when we were done fighting?"

Rei hummed next to her, shifting until her leg brushed against Minako's cold one. "I don't think I did. But I guess it's a bit different for me – always seeing the next disaster coming." She sipped her tea. "But…we're not fighting now. Nor will we tomorrow… And Usagi seems very sure we won't be fighting for a while longer. Seems the universe is so full of positive energy right now it can't sustain anything too nasty."

Mina nodded. "I used to wonder – after the Dark Agency – whether I'd get to return to being normal. And I stopped after a while. I mean, it wasn't exactly useful to think of all the normal things I could be doing. But I always hoped…" her voice seemed to get caught in her throat as her words became jumbled.

"I don't know what you remember of the Galaxy Cauldron," Rei said after a while. "But I remember the moment Usagi saved it: Chaos was completely banished, and all this energy was released back into the universe – stars were literally _reborn,"_ Rei whispered in a reverent voice. "All these bright lights replacing everything that Galaxia had killed." She hummed "It was beautiful."

"It was," Mina murmured. She had wanted to stay there with them, she realized, to soak up that peace, that belonging. "I wonder where they are now?"

Rei sipped her tea. "Getting another chance, I expect." She paused and when she spoke again her voice was more somber. "As we were all coming back together and celebrating… I felt  _it_  become reborn too."

"Chaos!" Mina said sharply, her head jerking up to look at Rei. "Did it come back to Earth? Possess another sailor? Did it –" Rei's warm fingers were suddenly pressed gently over Mina lips. Her friend's intense violet eyes held her own into her own.

"Stop," Rei said, warm breath tickling Minako's face. "It was reborn… just like everything else, and just like everything else it will take millennia for Chaos to become as powerful as it was before. And when it's back at full strength, It won't just have one ragtag team of Senshi from the corner of the Galaxy to fight it back - all those others like us are being reborn too. And they'll be just powerful as us, and just as able to stand together against Chaos when that time finally comes again."

Minako smiled as Rei's fingers fell from her lips.  _At least that's one thing I won't have to worry about next time_... still.. "Sorry..." Mina said and cleared her throat. "But Chaos wasn't the only evil out there?" Rei nodded along as Minako spoke. "Because... there were others in the Cauldron too, weren't there: Metalia and the Death Busters and enemies others like us fought and enemies no one has ever faced yet… I just feel like, no I  _know_."

"That we'll never be done," Rei finished her thought for her.

"We never will," Minako echoed. "I  _knew_ , and I think I knew before all of this and I just let myself pretend there'd be a future without all this fighting… but I was stupid and I just feel…"

"Like you're thinking too hard," Rei smirked.

"Hey!"

"Look, fearless leader," Rei teased. "You told me when I started having visions about Chaos that we'd beat it just like everything else… So I'm telling you, we're going to beat every demon that comes after it."

"It's not that," Minako shook her head. "I know we'll win. We've go me after all," she tried to joke, but Rei barely smirked. So she continued on more seriously. "It's everything else. I can't be the star my parents want if I'm always fighting evil. And I feel like acting is a chore now, since I do so much of it in my real life pretending everything is normal… and I can't ever be a normal high school girl. I won't ever have a normal career. And I certainly won't have…" Mina bit back the last part of her rant. Rei got the point.

Mina sipped her own tea. glancing at Rei and frowning: Rei was shaking her head.

"You're ridiculous," Rei said.

"Hey!"

"No, I mean it!" Rei elbowed Mina. "Who says you can't have a normal career? You're going to be Neo Queen Serenity's leading senshi. I guarantee you'll get a decent salary from that. And she'll definitely have you be the one dealing with the press – that's plenty of time in front of the camera and you get to say exactly what you really think. Plus: there's really not many years left that we have to hide our powers. Usagi's going to take the throne in less than 10 years."

"Shit!"

"I know, we don't have long to train the clumsiness out of her," Rei said, and Mina laughed along with her: picturing Usagi tripping up the Crystal Palace steps. "And like I said, we do get a break for a while. So _you_ do get to be like every other high school girl with no excuse not to revise for her exams."

"You're so comforting."

"Aren't I," Rei laughed, leaning into Mina as they both gazed up at the stars – which seemed somehow brighter than they had before Rei had come out. "And…"

"Hmmm?" Mina wondered, glancing towards her friend.

"And love…" Rei whispered. "You didn't say it…but you can have love too."

"That… that's a nice thought." Mina said. "But I don't ever kid myself about that, you know. Love would be a –"

"Distraction," Rei said. "I've heard it before. It wouldn't be…"

"Rei,"

"No, listen," she said. And as Mina pulled away from her, preparing to argue, the fire senshi grabbed onto her hand. "You can do your duty and have love. If you'd just give it a chance."

"I..." Mina bit her lip. Rei's hand squeezed hers tighter. "We've talked about this before Rei."

"No, not really." Rei laughed. "We've talked around this... and away from this, and about everything but  _this._  But you have never come right out and said it to me. And I'm tired of waiting."

"Huh?"

"I was waiting for you to come to your senses. Ace was wrong, Mina. You can do your duty and have love – look at Haruka and Michiru."

"I can't"

"You've never tried," the fire senshi huffed. "Look - I just died. And I get another chance, again. And you know what?"

"What?" Mina whispered, unable to look away, and unwilling to…

"I'm tired of letting destiny dictate what I can and can't have," Rei continued. Her other hand brushed across Minako's face, cupping her chin. "And I was waiting for you to figure that out too. But you're still so stubborn."

"Rei…" Minako stuttered.

"Please, just give this a try." 

And without more preamble, Mina felt Rei's fringe fall across her forehead and had just enough time to set her tea down on the steps as Rei pulled her in for a kiss.

Fire roared within her: warming her better than a blanket and tea ever could, as Rei's lips caressed her own. Mina grabbed onto the sleeves of Rei's coat as the blanket slipped from her shoulders into the snow. She held perfectly still for the longest time, just holding Rei close as she continued to kiss Mina fiercely. After a few, long moments, Mina felt a tear splash across her cheek and Rei drawing away.

"S-sorry…" Rei began to stutter. But Mina pulled her back towards her, wiped the tear from her face, and held her gaze.

She had given so much to her duty… wasn't it time she did something for herself?

Mina's hand wound its way into Rei's hair as she leaned into her. "I do love you," she whispered.

Rei sighed, shoulders sagging in relief, as Mina kissed her back.


	4. Human 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setsuna's never really lived on Earth as a real human prior to her appearance at the Aqua Cathedral. And the other Outer Senshi are quite startled by the revelations about her.

** Human Day One **

Haruka and Michiru sleep in an unusually long time the day after the final battle with Eugeil. So long, in fact, that Haruka misses three calls from her manager about why she was not at the track that morning. And she knows Michiru is bound to have similar calls in waiting from the director of Mugen’s student orchestra. Haruka groans, tapping out a hasty text to her manager saying she’s caught a nasty flu and then a similar text, which she reviews twice over for errors, to Michiru’s director.

Her phone displays the time as being 9:45 in the morning. _How the hell did we sleep so late_ , she thinks as she sits up and winces. _Jesus-eff, that smarts._ Her hand goes to her side – which is definitely still burnt and bruised from yesterday’s fight. She carefully throws back the covers and rolls out of bed. She’s still in yesterday’s clothes. Carefully, she peels off the wrinkled shirt and examines her abdomen. Bandages.

“When did I remember to do that?” Haruka murmurs. Whenever she did, she managed to do a much better job than usual. The bandages covering her many burns and arrow wounds are neat and evenly wrapped; they’re even taped in a way she swears is professional. She checks on Michiru. There’s bandages visible on her arms wrapped much the same way.

 _Of course_ , Haruka realizes, smacking her face at her own stupidity. _It was Pluto._

She’d been so exhausted after the Time Guardian had appeared that she barely remembers her saving them and then helping them home. Haruka pieces together the rest of yesterday as she dresses: after co-piloting their helicopter home from the Aqua Cathedral, the mysterious time senshi had helped she and Michiru to their apartment, bandaged the burns and arrow wounds that riddled their bodies, and sent them off to bed.

 _Did she stay_? Haruka wonders as she finishes buttoning her fresh shirt. _We could use powers like hers if we’re to prevent the destruction coming_.

She hadn’t dreamed of it last night, she realizes. That’s a rare occurrence these days. Especially as their interactions with the Inner Senshi become more frequent.

Haruka goes around Michiru’s side of the bed before she leaves. They have a rule: whenever one of them stays over, they never leave without waking the other. She considers it especially important on these mornings after battles.

 She bends down carefully, minding her injuries for once, and kisses Michiru’s forehead. “Love?” she whispers.

Michiru smiles and leans up, eyes still closed, to kiss her in kind. Then she winces, as the pain from her wounds registers, and swears. “Why aren’t they healed yet?” she complains, sharp eyes scanning Haruka for injuries. “And how are you any better than me?”

“You took more arrows than I did,” Haruka remarks. “Which we’re going to talk about later.” They’re going to talk about the whole battle later, Haruka decides. She can still see Sailor Neptune diving in front of Eugeil to save her, crossing a veritable firing squad in the process. Yes, they’re definitely going to talk about it.

“Much later,” Michiru says, settling back onto her pillow. “Went I’ve slept more… What time is it?”

“Ah…” Haruka checks her phone again. “10:13”

Michiru groans. “I don’t have to do anything today, right?”

“Not unless another enemy makes an appearance,” Haruka says. “But you’ll feel better if you eat… Should I bring you something?”

“Tempting,” Michiru smirks. “No, I’ll get up in a bit.”

“Okay,” Haruka says, stealing one more kiss before she leaves. “By the way: I love you.”

“I love you too,” she hears Michiru murmur as she closes the door.

As soon as Haruka turns around, she jumps. There's a strange woman on Michiru’s couch: her long green hair obscures her face and trails all the way to the floor, and her lavender heels are still on her feet.  She’s wearing a matching lavender business suit that’s severely rumpled from her night on the couch.

 _Sailor Pluto_ , Haruka realizes when she spots the henshin wand in the woman’s pocket. _So you did stay._ Perhaps without meaning to, if the haphazard way she’d fallen asleep is anything to go by.

Haruka tip-toes around the couch and through the living room to Michiru’s kitchenette, slowly pulling a frying pan out from beneath the counter and then going to the fridge.

Michiru doesn’t typically eat breakfasts. _Too busy_ , she always says. And it’s evident from the selection in her cupboards and refrigerator. Haruka picks out the tupperware of cold rice and the carton of eggs (both more than half empty) and seeks out anything else of value on the shelves: cabbage and (she grins) a pack of sausages hidden in the very back of the bottom shelf. That will serve her nicely.

She’s nearly done frying everything up when Michiru emerges from the bedroom in shorts and one of Haruka’s shirts. Haruka meets her eyes and holds a finger to her lips, gesturing to the still sleeping time senshi on the couch.

Michiru nods, stifles a yawn with her hand, and makes her way over to the kitchen. She grimaces as she hops up onto the counter.

“You said you were going to rest,” Haruka observes.

“I thought better of it,” Michiru whispers, eyeing the frying pan. “Add two more sausages on to that.”

“Thought you hated these,”

“Not when I’m this hungry.” Michiru yawns, and glances over at the coffee machine in the corner. Her eyes light up. “I knew I loved you for a reason.” She hums appreciatively, eyeing the coffee dripping into the pot.

“Don’t get up and pour it yourself,” Haruka says. “Not until you stop wincing.”

“I’ll be healed up by tonight,” Michiru insists. “Besides, I can walk just fine. In fact…” She lifts one of her bandaged arms up to eye level and slowly peels away the wrapping. “Yes – the burns at least are all healed.”

Haruka is about to respond when a gasp from the couch catches their attention.

~ _TTWWSTW_ ~

_Pluto grips the Garnet Rod tightly in her hands as she takes in the red and black clouds overhead, generated by some massive black hole at the epicenter of the crumbling city. Slabs of stone riddle the ground along with bodies – shrunken, charred, and some completely fine save the sallowness of their skin and their unnaturally pale complexions._

_Their hearts have been stolen, she realizes._

_A deafening roar fills the space around her as the ground begins to rumble, rock and dust streaming up towards the clouds. Pluto shouts as she spots the bright blue and red amongst the rubble – Sailor Mercury and Mars. A ways off is Jupiter, in her dark green fuku, folded over a fallen beam. She doesn’t see Venus, nor Neptune and Uranus. Nor… no…i t isn’t quite time for her yet._

Soon, _the ever-present awareness of time and its unchangeable events echoes in Pluto's mind._

 _But it’s all happening now? Pluto thinks confused, sprinting through the rubble. She can see, within the black hole, a light growing brighter and brighter. It’s time now_.

 _But her awareness of time is never wrong. She must surely be seeing things, for Time continues to resound an unchanging_ Soon, soon, soon. _Not now…soon._

_Then how am I experiencing this? Unless…_

_Unless I’m dreaming, she thinks. Just as she realizes it, the light within the black hole explodes outwards, silencing the roar in the air and overwhelming her vision._

She gasps, shooting upwards. She has been dreaming… but only those who slept dreamed… and in the time dimension she has no need to.

 _I fell asleep_ , she thinks, heart pounding. She never has, not in her entire memory of keeping watch over the doors. _How utterly irresponsible,_ she feels the need to confess this transgression welling up in her. As soon as she sees the Queen next she shall have to kneel before her and confess her failings. _She deserves a better guardian than me_.

“Well someone was sleepy,” a low voice chuckles and she whips her head around to face the intruder to the Time Dimension, then blinks once, twice, and rubs a hand over her eyes. _Oh._

She’s in linear time: 10:45 JST, in Kaioh Michiru’s residence, Juuban, Tokyo, Japan, Earth... She processes all this as she swings her legs over the edge of the couch and stands, using the back of the furniture piece for support.

The speaker, Uranus ( _no, Haruka_ ), and her companion ( _Nep… Michiru_ ) are both smiling warmly at her.

 “Sorry,” she says. Her voice is hoarse. She clears her throat. _That’s strange, does sleep always do that?_

“Do you want some tea?” Neptune ( _Michiru!)_ asks. “Or we have coffee as well.”

“I’ve uh… never tried either,” She says, wrinkling her nose. Something smells…  _good_.

“Get her coffee,” Haruka says glancing up from something she’s doing to survey the Time Guardian. “She looks like she could use some.”

“Why?” She asks.

Haruka and Michiru both frown, looking at each other and then at her. “Yah know,” Haruka shrugs. “Cause you just woke up, and you look tired…”

“I’m fine,” She rushes to say, releasing her hold on the couch. She struggles not to sway on her feet. “I do apologize. I didn’t intend to fall asleep here… I had not considered the physical toll inhabiting the primary dimension would enta…”

Haruka abruptly points a flat-ended cooking stick ( _a spatula_ ) at her and raises one eyebrow. “It’s fine. It isn’t like the enemy knows where we live...” Haruka trades a concerned look with Michiru. “Unless Eugeil told any others about our identities…”

“We’ll just have to be on our guard,” Michiru sighs.

“I should still _be_ on guard,” the Time Guardian worries, checking her pockets for the henshin wand.

“Relax,” Haruka says. _Pluto is weird_ , she decides. “We’re human. Sleep is a requirement. As is food. D’you like eggs? Sausages?”

“Uhhh...” she considers, struggling to identify both words within her vast expanse of knowledge.

“Or have you never eaten those either,” Haruka chuckles and turns to Michiru to see if it’s gotten a laugh out of her too.

But Michiru isn’t looking at Haruka. She’s got her head cocked to the side as she takes in the Time Guardian’s wrumpled clothes, how she fidgets, and how she’s trained her eyes on the frying pan and is staring so intently at it.

“When’s the last time you ate a meal?” Michiru asks.

“185,191 days ago… Earth days, I mean,” she says.

Haruka blanks “That’s… ah...”

“507 years, four months, and two weeks ago,” she clarifies for them.

“I eat five times a day,” Haruka stammers.

All the Time Guardian does is shrug. “Chibiusa came over for tea.” And when neither of them can think of something to say for a long minute or two, she continues to explain: “It works differently for me – in the time dimension. I have no need of food… or sleep.  In fact…" She looks down at the henshin wand again. Her hand hesitates over it. “I was… I mean I appeared here with this wand just yesterday. It is, to my extensive memory the first time I have retired my transformation since taking up my post. Perhaps an unforeseen consequence of dying via Time Stop…” her voice trails off. Both Michiru and Haruka are staring at her with wide eyes. She feels herself blush. _Strange_. She identifies the feeling as embarrassment and reacts by squaring her shoulders proudly and lifting her chin. “So no, I’ve never tried eggs. They’re a human food and I, unlike the rest of you, am the Daughter of Chronos, and the Eternal Senshi of Time. So I am not human, not really.”

 _She sounds so smooth and confident_ , Haruka thinks, trading a glance with Michiru. _C_ _an she not tell how sad and… bullshit that all sounds._ “Well you’re human now,” she says, plating up the food. “And this is delicious.”

“Go sit at the table,” Michiru directs, waving the her towards the small dining table by the wall. There are two chairs. “Take one, Haruka can borrow the chair from my desk.” She slides off the counter and winces. “I’ll get the coffee.”

"Now  _hang on,"_ Haruka fusses, ushering Michiru over to the small table and pulling one of the chairs out for her. "Sit." And then she turns to the flummoxed looking Time Guardian and walks around to the other chair, pulling that one out for her. " _I'll_ get the coffee."

They’re all seated in short order. She observes her fellow senshi as they eat. Haruka seems set on inhaling her food. Michiru approaches hers in a much more graceful fashion.

Haruka and Michiru have one eye on the Time Guardian too as she picks delicately at the rice and eggs (having turned her nose up at the sausage). Each bite appears to renew the stunned expression on her face.

Indeed, she eats slowly, considering flavor in each bite and thinking it’s even better than the biscuits and lukewarm tea she once shared with Chibiusa. Has she ever truly eaten? _Of course I have… just too long ago now to remember._ The eggs are delicious. The rice is delicious. Even the cabbage, which seemed a bit droopy, is delicious. She longs to inhale it as Ur- _Haruka_ does. _But what kind of impression would that give… I am their guest. Indeed, I should play my role._

 _The Eternal Guardian of Time shouldn’t inhale her food,_ She decides. And such pride is all that keeps her from racing Haruka through breakfast.

“So,” Haruka says through a mouthful, leading Michiru to smack her. “You gotta real name.”

 _A real name?_ “I have always been Pluto.”

“Oh come off it, I’ve always been Uranus too but I’m Haruka when there’s nothing to fight.”

“And you’re hardly Pluto now,” Michiru notes.

She pauses, setting down her chop sticks, and considers that. “When I awoke yesterday, I found a card in my pocket with an alias that I used to get around for the day.” She pulls it from the pocket of her suit-jacket and passes it to Michiru. “But this has never been my name.”

It’s a national ID card. Michiru checks it over on both sides, as legitimate as her own. “Meioh Setsuna,” she murmurs. “And it lists your birthday…as yesterday.”

“Fine way you decided to celebrate,” Haruka throws in “So this thing says you’re… 25.”

“I’m a fair bit older than that,” Setsuna scoffs, holding her head a little higher. “I’ve guarded the Time Doors since the dawn of time, as I shall guard them until the end.”

 _Christ, she’s so serious_ , Haruka thinks as an awkward silence evelopes the table.

 _Even with our own destiny what it is, how can her fate be so cruel_ , Michiru thinks. Her hand seeks out Haruka’s beneath the table.  She’s suddenly grateful for every one of the senshi injuries she’s taken with her to school and practice if they mean she gets to be human while she suffers through them.

“Anyways,” Setsuna says after a time, setting down her bowl and downing another large gulp of coffee. “Thank you for your hospitality… but it’s time I returned to my duty,” she says. And she rises from the table, pulling the henshin wand from her pocket.

“Wait!” Michiru says, “you can’t have been away long, surely you should stay a bit longer.”

“To help us with this enemy,” Haruka suggests.

“It is a tempting offer,” Setsuna says. “But truly I know not how long I have been away – I recently died in battle in the future and it seems I was reincarnated here. I knew I would have to be at the Aqua Cathedral to help you and did so – but I have been absent from the Time Doors for an undetermined amount of time and I do not know what evils will have taken root there in my absence."

“But…” Haruka protests. “How much trouble can a set of doors really get up to?”

She flushes when Pluto raises an amused eyebrow in her direction before Michiru steps in with her own more reasoned argument. “But why were you reborn here?”

“To help you,”

“Yes, but as the Senshi of Time… surely you already knew you’d have to do that.”

“It was one of my few confirmed interferences in linear time,” Setsuna agrees.  
“Well then,” Michiru gestures her hand around the room, back to Setsuna, and then to Setsuna's half-finished breakfast. “Couldn’t you have been reborn in the time dimension itself – or back in the 30th century – and still made it here?"

Setsuna freezes, henshin wand still clutched in her hand. _Y_ _es why didn't that happen… surely it would have been far easier for Serenity to reincarnate me into her own time…_ “Um...”

“You may have been reborn here for a reason,” Haruka insists. “Stay and be human for a while – we could use the help preventing the destruction that’s coming and keeping Usako from meddling in it.  We keep having these dreams...” She glances at Michiru

“The Messiah of Death is approaching,” Michiru says. “We need to prevent it… And we could use time on our side.”

 _They have no idea_ , Setsuna thinks, sinking back into her chair as she returns her henshin wand to her pocket. _They’ve no idea that the future Queen’s integral to it all… or whom the Messiah of Death is, and what she does… goodness they act like the Inner Senshi aren’t even on their side._

 _Maybe I should stay… What good are the Time Doors if these times are much more turbulent? I should guide them_.

“Alright,” she decides. “I can stay… just for a bit.”

“Good,” Haruka announces. “Then finish your breakfast, Meioh-san”

Her surname, Setsuna realizes, with an honorific attached. Somehow it sounds strange from a fellow Senshi. “Call me Setsuna,” she says, reaching once more for her coffee.

“Of course.” Michiru smiles. “We should probably spend the day getting you set up here – my couch is certainly not a suitable residence and,” Haruka spots the mischievous glint in her girlfriend’s eyes and groans when she hears next. “Are those your only clothes?”

 _I’m going to need a bigger boot for the car this time_ , Haruka thinks as Setsuna nods in answer. _She’s going to drag us around half of Tokyo_.

But, she glances out the window. It’s a beautiful day. And even if she’s carrying shopping bags, at least she’s human to appreciate it.

And Tokyo is huge, bright, and teeming with life... noise, color, people. Haruka smirks as she watches Setsuna finish off her coffee. Their newest team member is in for a hell of a culture-shock.

“So can you tell us anything about the future, Setsuna?” Haruka asks.

Setsuna smirks. “Not a bit.”

“Not even who wins the next football match-up?”

 _“Haruka!_ ” Michiru sighs.

“I won’t help you gamble,” Setsuna chuckles.

“I wasn’t asking anything of the sort,” Haruka lies, crossing her fingers behind her.

Her girlfriend then starts in on what Setsuna’s favourite colors are, patterns, skirts verses trousers, and then whether she’s heard music before – _she hasn’t_ – and Michiru seems to forget her injuries for the first time that morning. Haruka grins. Michiru's clearly excited to have Setsuna around.

 _She’s still weird,_ Haruka decides. _But it’ll be fun teaching her how to be a person._

 

 


End file.
